Montreal researchers find that music lessons before age seven create stronger connections in the brain
If you started piano lessons in grade one, or played the recorder in kindergarten, thank your parents and teachers. Those lessons you dreaded 鈥� or loved 鈥� helped develop your brain. The younger you started music lessons, the stronger the connections in your brain.
Guidance proteins regulate brain plasticity
January 29, 2013 - Addiction to cigarettes, drugs and other stimulants has been linked in the past to the brain鈥檚 frontal lobes, but now there is scientific evidence that indicates where in the frontal cortex addiction takes hold and how.聽 Addiction could be a result of abnormal communication between two areas of the frontal lobes linked to decision-making.聽 The discovery will undoubtedly stimulate clinical work on new therapies for millions of people who suffer from addiction.
January 28, 2013 - The European Commission has officially announced the selection of the Human Brain Project (HBP) as one of its two FET Flagship projects. The new project will federate European efforts to address one of the greatest challenges of modern science: understanding the human brain.
January 28, 2013 - A revolutionary technology has the ability to detect and diagnose Alzheimer鈥檚 disease with unprecedented accuracy. The computerized technique known as SNIPE analyzes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to capture patterns of atrophy specific to the disease in brain structures, specifically the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. Diagnosing Alzheimer鈥檚 disease (AD) is still an inexact science, relying mainly on the patient's symptoms and performance on memory tests. Detecting pre-clinical AD, before symptoms appear, is extremely difficult.
November 27, 2012 - Clinician-scientists take a unique, integrated approach that is essential to advancing science and medicine. Problems encountered in the clinic inspire research and new findings from the labs are directly applied to patients鈥� needs. The integrated model is a hallmark of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital 鈥� The Neuro, at 香蕉视频 and the MUHC and is now being replicated worldwide. Two clinician-scientists at The Neuro have been awarded grants today to further research on Parkinson鈥檚 disease and HIV/AIDS.
November 21 2012 - Dr. Brenda Milner, pioneer in the field of cognitive neuroscience whose discoveries revolutionized the understanding of memory, is being inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame today. The induction ceremony takes place at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Other inductees are physicist and educator Dr. Ursula Franklin and aviation pioneer J.A.D. McCurdy.
November 8 2012 - After a worldwide search, the renowned Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital 鈥� The Neuro 鈥� of 香蕉视频 and the 香蕉视频 Health Centre has a new director, Guy Rouleau, MD, PhD, FRCPC, OQ.聽 Dr. Rouleau, a prominent Quebec clinician-scientist recognized for his contributions to science and society, will also hold the Wilder Penfield Chair in Neuroscience as Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill. The appointment takes effect January 1, 2013.
Un 茅v茅nement commun se produit dans maintes pathologies du syst猫me nerveux聽: des cellules microgliales, qui sont des sentinelles charg茅es de surveiller, se muent en combattantes.聽 Cellules immunitaires du syst猫me nerveux, les microglies ing猫rent et d茅truisent des agents pathog猫nes et des cellules nerveuses l茅s茅es. Bien que ce processus soit crucial dans l鈥檕rganisme, on savait jusqu鈥櫭� pr茅sent tr猫s peu au sujet des m茅canismes mol茅culaires d鈥檃ctivation des microglies.
In many pathologies of the nervous system, there is a common event - cells called microglia are activated from surveillant watchmen into fighters.聽 Microglia are the immune cells of the nervous system, ingesting and destroying pathogens and damaged nerve cells. Until now little was known about the molecular mechanisms of microglia activation despite this being a critical process in the body.
MONTREAL, October 9, 2012聽 - Scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital 鈥� The Neuro,聽 香蕉视频 working with a team at Oxford University have uncovered the genetic defect underlying a group of rare genetic disorders.聽
Have you ever wondered why some people find it so much easier to stop smoking than others? New research shows that vulnerability to smoking addiction is shaped by our genes. A study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro, 香蕉视频 shows that people with genetically fast nicotine metabolism have a significantly greater brain response to smoking cues than those with slow nicotine metabolism. Previous research shows that greater reactivity to smoking cues predicts decreased success at smoking cessation and that environmental cues promote increased nicotine intake in animals and humans. 聽 This new finding that nicotine metabolism rates affect the brain鈥檚 response to smoking may lead the way for tailoring smoking cessation programs based on individual genetics.<!--break-->
